For the most part, movie posters suck. At the studio level, images with disembodied heads, horribly photoshopped character collections or a man and a woman, back to back, with aw-shucks grins on their face have pretty much become the norm. Gone are the days of Drew Struzan or Saul Bass where a real artist used their talents to give a striking visual portrait of what a movie is about on a massive scale. Movie studios today think, “Put the star’s face on the poster and people will come.”

Then there’s Mondo. An offshoot of the Alamo Drafthouse, and best known for selling highly collectible, limited-edition movie posters, the company recently relocated to a brand new gallery gallery space in Austin, Texas. There Mitch Putnam, Justin Ishmael and Rob Jones (above) will continue curate and sell more posters. The company has gained an almost elitist reputation because supply and demand dictates the company is regularly is forced to alienate thousands of fans who are rabid for their work but unable to purchase it. And whether they like it or not, that hype is creating a groundswell for something new in the world of movie posters.

Mondo began as a T-shirt company, became primarily a poster company and, in recent months, has now expanded into VHS and vinyl. Just this month they officially entered the legitimate art scene by opening their own gallery. That gallery and a new documentary film on the subject of poster art, called Just Like Being There, simultaneously hit SXSW and gave just a hint at the next step in movie posters: the return of the art. Read More »

Please Recommend /Film on Facebook

For the better part of two decades, three letters defined home entertainment: VHS. The video format carved a very important niche in movie history and then, in what seemed like an instant, disappeared. Phrases like “video stores,” “be kind rewind,” “tracking” and “late fees” were simply removed from the film geek lexicon. Thanks DVD. As most of us threw out our VCR’s in favor of the newer, cheaper, more reliable format, others were simply too attached and invested. They craved the days when buying a movie wasn’t as cool as getting a blank tape and recording off HBO. As it stands now, VHS is a dying – and therefore collectible – format.

Best known for their incredibly popular posters, Mondo has decided to bask in that ’80s and ’90s nostalgia and launch their very own VHS label called Mondo Video. Their first release comes out this week, the 1983 cult horror film Sledgehammer which was shot on tape. The VHS release coincides with not only the film’s DVD release but a screening at the Drafthouse in Austin. Check out the box art, a clip from the movie and much more after the jump. Read More »